Month One -- Design and Revision PhaseOne nice thing about the infrastructure that the Knights had put into the bridge of
Le Bouclier is that it served another purpose besides lending bridge meetings gravitas - as the area was also used for communications, it also likely lent some measure of respectability during the communications that Žaneta expected to be conducting during the course of this mercenary career.
To play into that, Žaneta was wearing the most formal dress outfit that she had brought: a partially-armored officer's uniform. It had pauldrons in a silvery color, plates at her hips of a similar color, as well as at her thighs, wrists, and upper arms, while the rest of the uniform consisted of a crisp set of white trousers and buttoned shirt and jacket, with a wide sash across her chest. That sash had the kite shield that represented Le Blason - but with Žaneta's personal heraldry, a swirling pattern of crimson and light blue, representing both the blood she'd shed and lost, and the healing effect that she had always hoped to have. Žaneta had brought Christel along as the only other person on this meeting, and had had her bring her own dress uniform - as a Connétable Spirituel, her uniform lacked armor, instead being more flowing and robelike at the sleeves and trousers. Her own personal heraldry was that of a yellow-white beam, widening as it went down, splitting the middle of the shield on her sash, which was otherwise pitch black - a beam of light in the darkness.
Blinking onto the screen that Christel had previously used for briefings was an olive-skinned man with wild hair and desert fatigues. He transmitted from a Mech Titan cockpit, sitting in his seat at a bit of an angle, leaning against one of his seat's arms. Upon seeing Žaneta and Christel in full dress on the other side of his screen, the man blinked and stared at the for a moment, before he grinned. "Well, hell, look at the two of you. I guess we've hired quite the fancy lot of people, huh? Lot of the bureaucrats back at the capital or the people up North would eat that right up, let me tell you. I'm a little less inclined to care all that much about the decorum, though. Instead, I'm just gonna tell you all about how things work out here. Welcome to Chopta -- and welcome to my little section of it. Up North, you've got a bunch of ponces who want to pretend that they're still ancient kingdoms and republics, but who got flattened by those Metropolitan assholes a long time ago. Down South, you have a bunch of quiet city-dwellers who didn't really give a shit who was in charge as long as they don't get bothered. Around here... you've got the only folks who accept reality."
He put on a more dour tone, next. "Unfortunately, a lot of the folks around here who have accepted the fact that we were getting dominated by the tyrants up in Metropole have decided that the opportunity their fucking off represents is the opportunity to go personally shoot the hell out of everyone else. Roguish and world-wise as I am," Žaneta barely resisted the urge to roll her eyes, here. "I can't say that's my idea of things. Instead, I've given my services to the Middle Belt Republic. The way we reckon things is that we might as well use what the Fifs
have given us -- if we can construct ourselves a republic, we can give let the Middle Belt finally have a bit of muscle and representation. We'll be able to take a place on Chopta's world stage like we've never really been able to before, as long as we can have a nation that represents all of the peoples here. And we'll finally be able to look everyone else on fucking eye-level. Lot of the others here don't want that, though, I'm sad to say."
While Žaneta couldn't help but find herself a little irritated at how little concrete information, their contact had just provided, Christel appeared to be in that starstruck mood Žaneta had seen from her on more than one occasion when she found something that she approved of. "That's such a noble goal! We of the Knights Reliquar will of course be glad to help advance it! You see, our god Le Blason is a being of protection, at heart -- he and his order fight for what is right, what is noble, and what will help protect the peoples of the galaxy... putting together a nation that will keep protection of its constituents in its heart is something that we can only strive to aid! But... you haven't introduced yourself. Would you do us that favor, and introduce what you will have us do?"
Visibly sitting a little straighter and taller after that little spiel from Christel, the man spoke. "Right, hah! Well, I'm Captain Vicente Cano, so I'm the one who put up the listing. I'm a military officer experienced with the fighting around here, so it made sense for the folks back in the capital to go send me out to help deal with this task... I'm one of our elite. Unfortunately, that isn't really to say that we have a
ton of forces to go around... we're not more than moderately sized at the moment, and there are a
lot of very important resources that need to be taken very quickly. This outpost is a major one, sure, but everything we can get our hands on matters. The Gacela Band, who are ALSO trying to get their hands on this place, is another one of those bands that just wants to establish dominance by shooting the shit out of whoever
isn't part of their little group, so by your own motives, it's pretty damn vital that you get the job done here. Fair warning, though, they
did get their hands on a mercenary group."
Immediately, Žaneta cut in. "And
that is what I was waiting to hear. I'm Žaneta Viliauskas -- and I'm the commander of this force of the Knights Reliquar. As much as we do cherish our ideals, I'm going to be asking you to tell me as much as the mercenaries they've hired as you can, because hard information is going to be vital for the bloody reality of what we need to do. If we come in unprepared, we're much less likely to be successful helping you get what you need to get, yes? I need to hear what you know about our enemies, what your plan is for your vehicle, and what you know about the terrain we're fighting on."
Caught a little off-guard by the sudden insistence, Cano cleared his throat. "Er, well, yeah, of course. First off, our vehicles -- they're pretty tough, all told, though what we've each got access to is pretty similar make; we both bought cargo vessels from one of the Metropolitan companies up in the rest of the system, Fairpath. These things are slow as hell, but they're some of the most solid vehicle work I've ever seen - they should be able to withstand a good amount of firepower. But there's not much option for weaponry other than to basically bolt a bunch of weapons to the outside; the more hits one of these vehicles takes, the less firepower it's going to have, and fast. We're both packing pretty long-range weaponry, though, so we'll be staying outside of the main clash. We're dealing with flat, open ground here, since it's just sahel terrain, so I'm afraid the opportunity to abuse terrain here is pretty limited."
"As for the mercenaries you're dealing with... these guys as far as I can tell were part of some Fif corporation's forces, and ditched in order to come down here and make more money on the conflict. The bureaucrats say that it's "Green-Barrister Enterprises", and is some sort of manufacturing company set up out on Níbẹ --that's the planet way the hell out there-- but I haven't heard of them and I've been helping make some deals with those Fif fucks, so I'm guessing that it's a pretty minor company. The guys you're fighting call themselves Singular Solutions, but as far as I can tell it's a pretty small group. They're sending one Titan out here -- relatively quality make, and still pretty fresh, but pretty simple since they just yoinked the damn thing from their corp's stocks. It's a light Titan, and in case you guys are from all the way on the other side of the sector and need the distinction, it's pure Mech. They seem to have sacrificed some mounting space in order to keep their armor's integrity, so they've got only the one large-mount gun - but I'm told it's some sort of rapid-fire grenade launcher, and even if those grenades are pretty small, well, they'll be small for a large-mount. Given that they stole something that's going to have been used to guard corp assets, it's a fair guess that they're fairly immobile, but are tough as hell, and can fire at range."
Žaneta favored Cano with a nod. "Well, I'll give it to you, Captain, that's pretty thorough. We can use what you've given us in order to prepare, so just make you're ready on your own end to get this done."
As previously stated in the OP for the game, in the Design and Revision Phase, you will have the opportunity to use two Design Actions and one Revision Action. Since I... don't really feel like repeating everything, I encourage you to look at the rules in the core for the phase. You have the choice of doing a Jury-Rig and a Blueprint, two Jury Rigs, or two Blueprints, in addition to a Revision that you can use either to alter a part you already have, or a blueprint you already have. You'll do these all at once. You can figure out your votebox here to your liking.Arquebusier-class Light Titan
Description: The Arquebusier-class Light Titan is a common sight among smaller mercenary groups in the Arehan Frontier Union, among skirmisher forces in the AFU's military proper, and among civilian organizations wishing to keep some level of Titan protection to themselves, being relatively cheap and portable. Although a little expensive for its tonnage, being Avalonian, that tonnage is extremely light for even most light Titans, but the Arquebusier-class capable of slugging it out with even heavier light Titans. It is a relatively hardy little Titan, especially around the Torso, is capable of using Carryable Equipment, and mounts a respectable amount of equipment, but its limbs are weaker and it isn't very fast. The Titan looks largely Mech, but the presence of components sprinkled throughout with ritual markings give away its Magic nature.
Parts: Arquebusier Torso
-Mounted Equipment: Medium: Empty Slot
Arquebusier Native Head
Arquebusier Native Left Arm
-Mounted Equipment: Magimechanical Small Laser
Arquebusier Native Right Arm
-Mounted Equipment: Magimechanical Small Laser
Arquebusier Native Left Leg
Arquebusier Native Right Leg
Carried: Dragonnade Railgun
[1] Arquebusier Torso: (Mech/Magic)
This is the core of the Arquebusier Titan, and is the most durable part of the Titan, with a blessed keystone mounted within it providing extra structural support, especially against physical impact, for its otherwise mechanical frame. It possesses a Medium Mount, connections for a Head, Left Arm, Right Arm, Left Leg, and Right Leg, and a Carryable Equipment hardpoint, but is otherwise largely unremarkable.
[1] Arquebusier Native Head: (Mech/Magic)
A fairly unremarkable head. Though it's structurally just mechanical, the machine spirits in the electronics keep it Mech/Magic.
[2] Arquebusier Arm: (Mech/Magic)
A fairly unremarkable arm, albeit more fragile than the torso of the Arquebusier. Possesses a Small Mount. Has dexterous hands and thus can operate Carryable Equipment.
[2] Arquebusier Leg: (Mech/Magic)
A fairly unremarkable leg and the most underperforming part of the Arquebusier. Less tough than the Torso, and neither particularly fast nor agile.
[2] Magimechanical Small Laser: (Mech/Magic)
As generic as weaponry gets in the AFU, this weapon uses the electronics of a laser device to a fire a, well, laser, but is actually powered by several extremely small electronic spirits. Operates at a medium-short range, does small but not tiny damage, and is extremely accurate, but can overheat if used too much.
[1] "Dragonnade" Railgun: (Mech/Magic)
A slightly light Carryable Weapon, the Dragonnade is long-range and fires accurately, but with low muzzle velocity, limiting that accuracy against distant, moving targets. Has a respectable rate of semi-automatic fire. Does moderate damage with its initial hit, and then does damage-over-time as if the target were being shelled by small and medium cannon weaponry. Initial strike pierces armor well, but both initial and prolonged damage do poorly against larger mechs, doing less damage and more localized damage respectively. Breaking more than half of the spike off ends the effect. Comes with free angry Slavic ghost.
"Dragonnade" Railgun: (Mech/Magic)
A slightly light Carryable Weapon, the Dragonnade is long-range and fires accurately, but with low muzzle velocity, limiting that accuracy against distant, moving targets. Has a respectable rate of semi-automatic fire. Does moderate damage with its initial hit, and then does damage-over-time as if the target were being shelled by small and medium cannon weaponry. Initial strike pierces armor well, but both initial and prolonged damage do poorly against larger mechs, doing less damage and more localized damage respectively. Breaking more than half of the spike off ends the effect. Comes with free angry Slavic ghost.
To manufacture 1 Dragonnade Railgun requires: Railgun OR Destroyed Railgun Scrap Or Mech Scrap w/ Advanced Magnetic Tech, 3 pieces of Magic Scrap.
Mech Right Leg Scrap
Mech Scrap with Advanced Metals
Destroyed Fireball Weapon
Magic Left Leg Scrap
Magic Scrap with Conjuration Ritual Components